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We got an inside looks at how Army paratroopers train for close range hand-to-hand combat.(The best part is when our video guy Alex Dickinson gets his tail handed to him by a female paratrooper. Teehee.)

We got an inside looks at how Army paratroopers train for close range hand-to-hand combat.

(The best part is when our video guy Alex Dickinson gets his tail handed to him by a female paratrooper. Teehee.)

We got to ride along with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division during training — and now you can too! 
Watch 240 paratroopers hurl themselves into the sky.

We got to ride along with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division during training — and now you can too!

Watch 240 paratroopers hurl themselves into the sky.

Uniforms for the Army-Navy college football game have never looked cooler

We tracked down Baffy, the bomb-sniffing Army dog who became Internet famous last week after his handler posted this photo on Reddit.
Turns out Baffy’s retired from active duty service (although he helped find over 45 bombs during his deployment in Afghanistan!) and his paratrooper handler is lobbying the Army for an adoption. 

We tracked down Baffy, the bomb-sniffing Army dog who became Internet famous last week after his handler posted this photo on Reddit.

Turns out Baffy’s retired from active duty service (although he helped find over 45 bombs during his deployment in Afghanistan!) and his paratrooper handler is lobbying the Army for an adoption. 

Watch our firsthand look at Navy SEALs as they helicoptered into a remote village in Afghaninstan to search for Taliban leaders and weapons.

As the suicide rate among soldiers climbs to the highest levels in history, the Army is hoping Americans might one day treat their mental health woes with a single sniff — using an anti-suicide nasal spray.

The Army has just handed a $3 million grant to researchers at the University of Indiana’s School of Medicine for the creation of an anti-suicide nasal spray. The project, to be led by Dr. Michael Kubek, an associate professor of neurobiology, is arguably one of the more unusual military efforts to thwart a record number of suicides among active-duty personnel and veterans.

“Suicide is the toughest enemy I have faced in my 37 years in the Army,” Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the Army’s vice chief of staff, said this week in announcing new suicide numbers. Austin is spearheading his service’s efforts to find ways to halt the surge in suicides.

“That said, I do believe suicide is preventable,” Austin added. “To combat it effectively will require sophisticated solutions aimed at helping individuals to build resiliency and strengthen their life coping skills.”

According to Kubek and his colleagues, a snort of their suicide-stopping neurochemical — a naturally occurring compound called thyrotropin-releasing hormone, or TRH — could be the solution.

The Army is ditching a $5 billion failed camouflage redesign because it actually made soldiers easier for the enemy to spot.  

As Army researchers work furiously on a newer, better camouflage, it’s natural to ask what went wrong and how they’ll avoid the same missteps this time around. In a candid interview with The Daily, several of those researchers said Army brass interfered in the selection process during the last round, letting looks and politics get in the way of science.
“It got into political hands before the soldiers ever got the uniforms,” said Cheryl Stewardson, a textile technologist at the Army research center in Natick, Mass., where most of the armed forces camouflage patterns are made.

The Army is ditching a $5 billion failed camouflage redesign because it actually made soldiers easier for the enemy to spot.  

As Army researchers work furiously on a newer, better camouflage, it’s natural to ask what went wrong and how they’ll avoid the same missteps this time around. In a candid interview with The Daily, several of those researchers said Army brass interfered in the selection process during the last round, letting looks and politics get in the way of science.

“It got into political hands before the soldiers ever got the uniforms,” said Cheryl Stewardson, a textile technologist at the Army research center in Natick, Mass., where most of the armed forces camouflage patterns are made.

Today in awkward photo ops: Army researchers developed bombproof underwear to protect privates’ privates. 

Today in awkward photo ops: Army researchers developed bombproof underwear to protect privates’ privates. 

This Missouri mom is one of the oldest Army recruits EVER. She’s 51 years old, a paralegal, and served in the Navy for 11 years before leaving the service to raise her son. Yesterday she graduated from basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in the Missouri Ozarks.

“Everybody in the world thinks I am a total nutcase,” Coast, 51, told the Fort Leonard Wood Guidon. “I just want to support our troops. I love all of them.”

This Missouri mom is one of the oldest Army recruits EVER. She’s 51 years old, a paralegal, and served in the Navy for 11 years before leaving the service to raise her son. Yesterday she graduated from basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in the Missouri Ozarks.

“Everybody in the world thinks I am a total nutcase,” Coast, 51, told the Fort Leonard Wood Guidon. “I just want to support our troops. I love all of them.”

The Army plans to cut 80,000 soldiers over the next decade. Meanwhile, it will increase its fleet of armed drones by 30% and deploy more special-ops teams like SEAL Team Six.

It is not yet known how the Army will decide which soldiers get pink slips. Special operations units will not be cut and the Army will try to avoid cutting mid-level officers with the rank of major or higher.
Supporters of a smaller Army think 490,000 troops can handle any potential threat.

The Army plans to cut 80,000 soldiers over the next decade. Meanwhile, it will increase its fleet of armed drones by 30% and deploy more special-ops teams like SEAL Team Six.

It is not yet known how the Army will decide which soldiers get pink slips. Special operations units will not be cut and the Army will try to avoid cutting mid-level officers with the rank of major or higher.

Supporters of a smaller Army think 490,000 troops can handle any potential threat.